F
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V.V PURAM, BENGALURU
VV Puram About VV Puram Food Street is a food street in Visveswarapuram, Basavanagudi, Bangalore. Located near Sajjan Rao Circle, the street has over 20 food stalls in less than 150 meters serving varieties of street food, sweets, South Indian, North Indian and Chinese dishes. Called Thindi Beedi in Kannada and Khaau Gali in Hindi, the food street is said to have a cult status among Bangaloreans.The street typically becomes busy after six in the evening. The food street hosts the “Avarekai Mela” annually in the winter months of December/January, when varieties of dishes are prepared using avarekai (hyacinth beans)– both hithkabele (peeled beans) and avarebele (unpeeled beans). The festival which started as an effort to sell the produce of avarekai farmers became popular over the years with more than 1000 kg of avarekai being purchased directly from the farmers on each day of the festival.
How to get there? One of the major attraction of Bengaluru is Lalbagh Garden which is also situated in V.V Puram. It is a good landmark to spot the food street of V.V Puram. People who come to see the Lalbagh can also come to the food street to enjoy the food. It is 500 meters away from Lalbagh Lake, which would be a 5-6 minutes walk approximately.
MENU Starters Dahi Puri Potato Twister White Pani Puri
Main Course Tattae Idli Cheese Masal Dosa Dabeli
Refreshing Kulfi Strawberry Milkshake
Starters
Dahi Puri Dahi puri is a snack which is very popular in the state of Maharashtra, India. Want to have best Dahi puri in down south? V.V Puram offers that too along with the endless delicious dishes it has. The first shop at the crossroad “Abhishek Sweet and Chats� offers the best Dahi puri of the whole street. They charge 50 rupees a plate with 6 round, hard puffy puri shells. The puri shells are partially filled with the main stuffing of fresh mashes potatoes and chickpeas. They put the right amount of haldi, chilli powder and a pinch of salt of make it semi spicy and edible for everyone.
Abhishek Sweet & Chats
Abhishek Sweet and chats make their own tamarind chutney and spicy green chutney, which is pour into the shell on top of the stuffing. Then comes the layer of sweetened beaten yoghurt, the main essence of the dish. The chat is concluded with sprinkles of crushes sev, chopped coriander leaves, onions and mint. The spectrum of flavours and textures within may all be marvellously tasted together. It is one of the must try snacks of the food street! Taste- 9/10 Hygiene-8/10 Presentation- 722/10
Potato Twister French fries are old fashion, VV Puram food street offers fancy ways of having fried potatoes for fries lover! Arya Visya Refreshments which is right in the middle of the street offers variety of chats,
paratha, Vada, idli, obbatu, ragi mudde, fried food etc. They have 2 little stalls installed right in front of their shop where irresistible Tornado potatoes are hanging in a fancy pattern to attract the people. Tornado potatoes are also called twist potatoes or tornado fries, they are a popular street food in South Korea. It is a spiral whole potato on a skewer, which is cut in a clean upmarket machine and then deep fried. Crispy fried goodness is so well seasoned and light on the pocket! They charge 60 rupees for any flavour and 10 rupees extra for mayonnaise.
The seller at the stall of Arya Visya Refreshments is a very well behaved and friendly person, who will suggest you flavours as per your liking. Arya Visya Refreshments stall offers 6 flavours tornado potatoes like Peri-Peri, Manchurian, Spanish Tomato, Crispy Cheese, Chat Masala, and Mexican twist. All the flavours are great but Peri- Peri with veg mayonnaise is recommended. The twisters are quite filling and unbelievably satisfying to the tongue. Taste- 10/10 Hygiene-8/10 Presentation- 10/10
Arya Visya Refreshments
Pani Puri Om Sri Vinyaka keeps a different kind of Pani Puri. Venders in VV Puram culinary are eager to take their expertise to the next level, have come up with interesting variations to the Pani Puri like the white water Pani puri. Instead of waiting for your turn, holding the leafed bowl hungry, this shop gives you on your plate. They serve 5-6 shells of hard round Pani Puri in a plate. Their stuffing consist of mashed potato, peas, flavoured with onion and carrot. To the surprise, there is no masala in the stuffing. All the magic is in the flavoured water that they serve with it. Unlike other vend-
Om Sree Vinyaka
-ders the flavoured water is served in a tiny cup, kept in the middle of the Puri shells. It is unbelievable to see the water is transparent, but it contains a very strong minty flavour to it. The overall look of the whole dish is not quite pleasing but when the water is poured to the stuffed Pani Puri shell, the combination is a whole new experience together. The taste peas, which is very unlikely in a Pani puri, is enhanced by the minty flavoured water. Om Sri Vinyaka sells this plate of wonder at just 30 rupees. They also make a lot of variety of chats, but this dish in particular is their speciality and the only place in the whole VV Puram food street who sells White water Pani Puri. Taste- 10/10 Hygiene-7/10 Presentation- 5/10
Main Course
Tattae Idli The whole food street of VV Puram consists of a lot of venders who sell south Indian food but this shop “Guru Deva Idli Cross” in particular gives the actual essence of south India just by the smell.
It is a very small shop, a little difficult to spot for non localities as the name of the shop is in Kannada. It is right beside the shop “Abhishek Sweet and Chats”. Try to buy and get the food parcel, as they give it in a banana leaf wrapped with newspaper. Guru Deva Idli cross sells different types of Vada and Idli, savoury rice cake, originating from the Indian Idli have several variations, including rava idli, which are made from semolina. Regional variants include sanna of Konkan and Enduri Pitha of Odisha.
The seller at the stall of Arya Visya Refreshments is a very well behaved and friendly person, who will suggest you flavours as per your liking. Arya Visya Refreshments stall offers 6 flavours tornado potatoes like Peri-Peri, Manchurian, Spanish Tomato, Crispy Cheese, Chat Masala, and Mexican twist. All the flavours are great but Peri- Peri with veg mayonnaise is recommended. The twisters are quite filling and unbelievably satisfying to the tongue. Taste- 10/10 Hygiene-8/10 Presentation- 10/10
Guru Deva Idli Cross
Cheese Masala Dosa Pure Nandini Ghee Dosa’s is the biggest food vender of the whole food street in VV Puram. They have endless variations in terms of snacks and food. They have a great variety of Dosa, vada, idli, flavoured rice, deserts, chats, south Indian snacks etc. This is also the shop which is the most crowded in the whole street, hence, very easy to spot. They use proper wooden plates with banana leaves to make the customer experience good and comfortable.ers and stalls, the flavoured water is served in a tiny cup, kept in the middle of the Puri shells.
Pure Nandini Ghee Dosa’s
Amongst all the options for dosa, Cheese masala dosa is something really tasty and different that they offer. Cheese masal dosa is a variation of the popular South Indian food dosa, which has its origins in Tuluva Mangalorean cuisine.It is made from rice, lentils, potato, methi, and curry leaves. This hot stuffed dosa is served with a coconut chutney to spice up the taste. The stuffing consists of spectrum of things. It has the general mashed potato as its main stuffing along with onion, totato, basil leafs and loaded with a lot of cheese. The combination of onion and cheese leaves a very good after taste in the mouth. Taste- 10/10 Hygiene-7/10 Presentation- 5/10
Dabeli
Amongst the endless variety Pure Nandini Ghee Dosa’s keep, Dabeli is on rare thing they offer. Pure Nandini Ghee Dosa’s is the biggest food vender of the whole food street in VV Puram. They have endless variations in terms of snacks and food. They have a great variety of Dosa, vada, idli, flavoured rice, deserts, chats, south Indian snacks etc. This is also the shop which is the most crowded in the whole street, hence,
very easy to spot Dabeli, kutchi dabeli or double roti is a popular snack food of India, originating in the Kutch or Kachchh region of Gujarat. Dabeli literally means “pressed” in Gujarati language. It is a spicy snack containing a mixture of boiled potatoes with a special dabeli masala, the stuffing is serving inside a ladi pav (burger bun).
To spice up the overall taste fresh chutneys made form tamarind, date, garlic, red chillies etc are put. It is garnished with pomegranate and roasted peanuts. It costs 50 rupees and serves in a brown plate with a banana leaf. The overall taste is surprisingly sweat and spicy which is pleasant to the tongue. Taste- 10/10 Hygiene-6/10 Presentation- 10/10
Main Course
Pista Kulfi Right at the beginning of the food street, at the crossroad, you can easily spot the Rajasthan Malai kulfi Vender. Kulfi or Qulfi is a popular frozen dairy dessert originating from the Indian subcontinent during Mughal India. It is often described as “traditional Indian ice cream. Rajasthan Malai Kulfi vender sells very dense, creamier and tasty kulfi. There is a variety of flavour you can choose as per your liking. It is recommended to taste the Pista flavoured kulfi as in is very rich in essence. The cost ranges from 20-60 rupees.
Rajasthan Malai Kulfi
Taste- 10/10 Hygiene-6/10 Presentation- 10/10
Strawberry Milkshake Sree Ganesh Fruit Juice Centre is an amazing place to fill your thirst! While eating at different places in the whole food street of VV Puram, you realise you need something to drink. This place has it all! They offer fresh fruit juice without preservatives or added sugars. Their seasonal juices are the best. Apart from the juices, they offer different variety of milk shakes as well. Their Strawberry milk shake is a must try! It is the correct amount of blend of milk and fresh and juicy strawberries. They do not add sugar, instead they add more of the fruit to increase the flavour.
Sree Ganesh Fruit Juice Centre
The shake is very textured; the berries are felt in the mouth. The shakes are pretty thick and very nutritious. Taste- 10/10 Hygiene-7/10 Presentation- 7/10
Things to plan before heading to the food street
1) Try to sample maximum number of dishes: How? Go with as many friends as you can rope in. The bigger the group, the more food you can sample. Aim to sample the top items at each joint. No point eating one or two items and heading back, we say! 2) It comes alive around 7 PM: While some of the shops start serving from 5:30-6:00 PM onwards, all of them are ready only by 7:00 PM. 3)Weekends are very crowded: So get there a lit tle early by 7 PM. 4) Limited Seating Available: The experience is to stand and eat on the street, watching the cooks put your dish together live. So do wear comfortable footwear. However, very recently Sri Vasavi Mane Tindi has introduced a special section where patrons can sit and place orders. 5) Parking secrets: Try one of the roads leading into Sajjan Rao Circle if you can’t find parking around the circle itself. 6) Go green: Dispose off plates in a dustbin. Most shops will have them placed at prominent locations. 7) Water: We suggest carrying your own bottle of water so that you don’t have to buy one while there. 8)No waste please: Try and avoid wasting food
Bon AppĂŠtit!